Open Magazine - Top Stories

Testament of a Radical Liberal
Testament of a Radical Liberal
16 min read
Liberalism is not a repudiation of patriotism and to reclaim it is not to mimic the West but to rediscover a native grammar of freedom
Behold Gandhi the Hindu: How Sanatana Dharma Shaped India’s Independence Movement and Nationalism
12 min read
He tackled Jinnah, Ambedkar and the Christian missionaries with philosophical panache when his belief in Hinduism came to be directly challenged
Freedom Issue 2026: Editor's Note
3 min read
The Ides of August: The idea of freedom
9 min read
Diplomatic postings in Singapore and Pakistan have given the author a ringside view of how the intersection of history and politics alters the idea of freedom
The Capital of Mobilisation: Delhi and the unfinished argument of the Republic
8 min read
Governments have changed, sometimes dramatically, but the city’s deeper history lay in the claims made upon them. The important question is not only who occupied the seat of power but who was standing ...
The Fight Ended in 2015. For Prichard Colón, It Never Really Ended
4 min read
Puerto Rican boxer Prichard Colón entered the ring at 23, unbeaten in 16 professional fights. He walked out on his own feet, then collapsed minutes later. He would spend the next 11 years living with ...
Hormuz, Again: Ships Attacked, Oil Spilled, Drones Readied as the Crisis Refuses to End
5 min read
Two Emirati oil vessels attacked. Iran accused of “piracy”. Oil washing ashore. America assembling a multinational attack-drone force. The Strait of Hormuz is back at the centre of a conflict that kee ...
‘Could be my last World Cup’: Manpreet Singh wants India to end 50-year wait for hockey glory in 2026
3 min read
With the 2026 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup approaching, India midfielder Manpreet Singh says the tournament could be his last and wants to finally add a World Cup medal to the team’s Olympic success.
Vishesh Bhatt on clash between Emraan Hashmi’s Awarapan 2 and Sunny Deol’s Batwara 1947: ‘I was afraid…’
3 min read
Awarapan 2 director Vishesh Bhatt says the film’s release-date overlap with Batwara 1947 was never intentional. A delayed shoot, shifting release calendar and the Independence Day holiday ultimately b ...
open magazine cover
14 Aug 2026 - Vol 05 | Issue 33

Freedom Issue 2026

Shashi Tharoor on being radical liberal | Ram Madhav on how Gandhi used his Hinduism | TCA Raghavan on a diplomat's travels in history | Sumana Roy on the novel beyond the Booker | Carlo Pizzati on the dissolution of Borders
Testament of a Radical Liberal
Behold Gandhi the Hindu: How Sanatana Dharma Shaped India’s Independence Movement and Nationalism
Freedom Issue 2026: Editor's Note
The Ides of August: The idea of freedom